[lojban-beginners] Re: Debug my propaganda?

["Jorge Llambías" <jjllambias@gmail.com>]

On 3/19/07, Karl Naylor <karl.org@gmail.com> wrote:
> In any case it seems we need an answer from some authority to resolve
> the question of whether I can truthfully and correctly say "lenu mi
> tadni la lojban. cu jeftu lipavo".  How does the Lojban tense system
> view events that are partially or fully in the future, or unknown for
> other reasons?

Not an authoritative answer, but I see no problem with using
{lo nu mi tadni la lojban} to refer to an event that is still in progress, or
has been completed, or may not have started yet, or that may even
never start, etc.

I have no problem with {la djan nanca li remu} to give someone's
current age, so I don't have a problem with using {jeftu} to give the
currently elapsed time of an event in progress either.

Of course {lo nu mi tadni la lojban cu jeftu li 14} could also mean
that you studied lojban for 14 weeks five years ago, or that you will
study it for 14 weeks 10 years from now. Your initial formulation,
{lo jeftu be li pa vo cu temci lo nu mi co'a tadni kei le cabna} was
more precise.

OTOH, I'd rather not put {mi tadni} in a subordinate clause to say
"I've been studying lojban for (the past) 14 weeks". I prefer something
like {mi tadni la lojban ca'o lo (purlamci) jeftu be li 14}.

{ca'o} says that my studying covers the past 14 weeks, but it allows
that it will continue.

{ze'a lo jeftu be li 14} would say that the whole duration of the studying
is 14 weeks.

{co'i lo jeftu be li 14} would say that the whole studying took place
sometime during those 14 weeks (but may have taken much less).

mu'o mi'e xorxes